1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an article supporting device to which a support frame for supporting an article on which embroidery patterns or stitches are to be formed or a cap frame for supporting a cap is detachably attached and a sewing machine provided with the article supporting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have conventionally been provided various types of sewing machines in which a cap is rotated with a cap frame so that an embroidery pattern can be sewn on a front, or right or left side of the cap. For example, Japanese Patent No. 2958947 discloses a sewing machine comprising a moving frame moved independently in the X direction (right-and-left) perpendicular to a cylinder bed and in the Y direction (back-and-forth) and a cap frame supporting device detachably mounted on the moving frame. The cap frame supporting device of the sewing machine comprises a body and a cap frame detachably attached to the body for holding a cap. The body of the cap frame supporting device and the cap frame are moved in the Y direction when the cloth feed frame is moved in the Y direction. Drive of the cloth feed frame in the X direction is converted by a rotating mechanism of the body to rotational movement, whereby only a rotating frame of the body is rotated together with the cap frame so that an embroidery pattern can be sewn on a front, or right or left side of the cap.
When the cap frame is attached to the body in the above-noted sewing machine, an operator fits the cap frame with the rotating frame and presses the cap frame forward while sliding the cap frame on an outer periphery of the rotating frame, so that four engagement members provided on the outer periphery of the rotating frame are engaged with engagement holes of the cap frame respectively. Thus, the cap frame is attached to the rotating frame. On the other hand, when the cap frame is detached from the rotating frame, only the cap frame is pulled forward so that the cap frame is disengaged from the engagement members, whereby the cap frame is detached from the rotating frame.
In the above-described cap frame supporting device, however, an embroidery pattern cannot be sewn when the cap frame has been detached from the rotating frame or displaced from a proper position due to oscillation caused by the sewing machine. In view of this problem, the cap frame is firmly mounted to the body by the engagement member. Accordingly, when only the cap frame is to be detached from the rotating frame, the operator needs to exert a strong force to the cap frame to manually pull it forward. This is not an easy work for some operators or users. In this case, there is a possibility that the sewing machine body may also be dragged with the cap frame when the cap frame is pulled forward. Additionally, there is also a possibility that the operator may fall heavily on his or her backside when having forcibly pulled the cap frame off.